Dawn Had Yet to Come

"Tina! Masha! Open the door!" A woman nearing forty pounded frantically on her own front door and screamed hysterically. "Tina! Masha! Open the door! There's no time left!"

Saboxijiao had just rushed back from Meilanergo Church in the south of the Lower District. She pounded on her door so fiercely because she wanted to bring good news to her daughters. Her golden hair fluttered in the wind, and two warm streams of tears ran down her slightly wrinkled face.

"Tina! Masha! Open the door! Mommy is begging you! Come away with Mommy! As long as you follow me, we can be saved—" Splinters from the wooden door cut Saboxijiao's arms, but she did not care, letting the blood stain her clothes.

"Tina! Masha! This isn't the time to be stubborn! Open the door! The monsters are about to invade Canfor! Open the door! Mommy is begging you..." Saboxijiao cried out again.

As night fell outside the city, the Holy Wall guarded by the three great angels began to shake.

"Drip... drip..." Something fell from high above...

A sour, nauseating stench drifted from the distant city wall. The zombies stuck to the Holy Wall like insect eggs fell away like insects as well.

"Tina! Masha! Open the door, quickly! This isn't the time to be stubborn—come with Mommy to the church! There are miracles there, and Mr. Latopil—he can protect us! Mommy is begging you, don't gamble with your lives!" Saboxijiao rammed her frail body against her front door. "Hurry—hurry and open it! Those monsters are about to get in!"

"Drip... drip..." Rotten flesh fell slowly from the undead as they moved. Skeletons and zombies marched onward without awareness.

"May the High God bless us—" The people sheltered by the church sang their newly composed hymn.

"Tiadam—he possesses the broadest shoulders—" the priest sang.

"He possesses the most generous heart—he is the Holy Father's incarnation in this world. His towering form can slay countless demons. Even the most terrifying Demon King cannot halt his steps—he is light—he is holiness—he is the embodiment of the High God's mercy—"

The faithful knelt on the ground and echoed, "He is the bravest hero—the noblest warrior. He possesses the greatest divine power—he is the Holy Son's father—the Holy Mother's husband—"

"Tina! Masha! Where are you!?" After smashing open her front door, Saboxijiao staggered toward the inner rooms. Her husband had been bedridden for years after contracting Rosa Kevin's Curse, and the entire house reeked like rotting mud.

"Tina! Masha! Where are you!?" Saboxijiao searched the entire first floor but found no sign of Tina or Masha. Then she remembered how, long ago, when she played hide-and-seek with Tina and Masha at home, the two girls often hid in the wardrobes, so...

Saboxijiao opened every cabinet on the first floor, but there was nothing inside them. Her husband often joked that their family was so poor that even spiders refused to spin webs there.

"Tina! Masha! Where are you!? Come with Mommy, please—Mommy is begging you—" Saboxijiao could not find her daughters downstairs, so she headed toward the source of the sour stench in their home—her husband Andrei's room.

She had married Andrei twenty years ago. Back then, Andrei had been a twenty-year-old adventurer, while Saboxijiao had been a seventeen-year-old restaurant server. She had first met Andrei in a green forest, when he had still been a handsome and valiant youth.

"Tina! Masha! Where are you!?" Saboxijiao shouted. Yellow-green miasma poured from Andrei's room, its smell nauseating and numbing. Saboxijiao felt that this was probably the only inheritance Andrei would leave behind after his death...

Back then, Andrei had been a brave and kind warrior. He and his companions hunted monsters for rewards, then drank and ate meat at the restaurant where Saboxijiao worked. From the moment she met Andrei, Saboxijiao often imagined herself as a princess imprisoned by monsters, only to be saved by a warrior like Andrei. Then she would bear his children and live happily with him. Reality had indeed unfolded that way...

The first door Saboxijiao kicked open was Andrei's. This former youthful hero now lay limp on his sickbed, his once resolute and strong body already rotten and foul-smelling.

Suppressing her nausea, Saboxijiao searched beneath Andrei's bed and through his wardrobe. There was no trace of Masha or Tina there...

Within two years of marrying Andrei, Saboxijiao soon had a child. It was a boy, and Andrei liked him very much, often teaching him swordsmanship and how to parry.

Then, as Rosa Kevin gradually awakened, more and more monsters appeared in the forest. Naturally, Saboxijiao and Andrei's life grew more prosperous. The following ten years were the happiest time of Saboxijiao's life. She gave birth to Tina and Glaner in succession, and when Rosa Kevin awakened, Saboxijiao gave birth to Masha.

"Tina! Masha! Where are you!? Answer Mommy—" Saboxijiao kicked open her sons' bedroom door.

Not long after Masha was born, Andrei followed the hero Ocast on the path to slay the evil god Rosa Kevin. Andrei had undoubtedly been lucky during the campaign against Rosa Kevin. Ocast left him in Labi Village to care for villagers cursed by the Spider Demon Risala, and thus... he escaped disaster.

"Tina! Masha! Where are you!?" Saboxijiao collapsed to her knees on the floor. Frustration, grief, and despair wrapped around her heart. The thin woman pried open Tina and Masha's bedroom door, but it too was empty. She felt as though someone had hollowed her out...

At the moment Rosa Kevin was slain, Andrei had also unfortunately contracted Rosa Kevin's Curse. Even now, he was still fortunate. He had children, a wife, and a home in southern Canfor.

Although southern Canfor was far from Elrina Forest and had not suffered much from the curse, holy water was extremely expensive. Unless one was a follower of the Ouston Church, no amount of money could buy holy water.

Saboxijiao left her home like a walking corpse. The entire street was empty, and the people of the Lower District had all hidden away for safety...

Financial pressure soon crushed Saboxijiao's family. She sent her eldest son to another city to become an adventurer, while her two daughters stayed behind to care for Andrei.

No matter how difficult life became, Saboxijiao had never considered giving up. She knelt in the dilapidated Meilanergo Church and wept, while the singing that occasionally drifted from within soothed her heart.

"Oh, lost lambs..." The master of the church—Mr. Latopil—walked slowly down the stairs, holding the hands of two young girls.

"My dear Saboxijiao, where are your daughters?" The man nearing sixty spoke with a smile. Holy light drifted through his blue-brown pupils, while grease covered his pale yet aged face.

The noble priest helped Saboxijiao to her feet, his belly protruding before him.

"You must understand—being able to enter the church and become nuns is an immense honor—" Mr. Latopil shouted. "If your husband knew, he surely would... be happy too..."

"My husband is dead... and my daughters are missing..." Saboxijiao answered without emotion.

"Oh, how unfortunate. Your daughters once had the chance to become nuns of our church—" Mr. Latopil gently stroked Saboxijiao's waist and back. His holy words were like gems that healed the heart, and the kind elder led Saboxijiao into the church.

"I... I truly..." Saboxijiao sobbed bitterly in Mr. Latopil's arms. "I truly... truly only... wanted what was best for them... Why couldn't they understand? I'm their mother... Would I ever hurt them?"

"My dear lady, please do not cry~" Mr. Latopil said. "From today onward, you are their sister..."

Hundreds of residents who had come to take refuge knelt in the ruined church. They sang hymns, believing that the power carried by those hymns could shield them from the monsters outside the city.

"O hero Tiadam—" Mr. Latopil stood at the pulpit and sang. "You are the High God's incarnation—you are stronger than Ocast, the hero among heroes, the king of kings—able to slay all evil in this world—"

"Ah—hero Tiadam—you are the High God's incarnation—you are stronger than Ocast, the hero among heroes, the king of kings—able to slay all evil in this world—" Saboxijiao sang along with everyone else.

"Big Sister... Big Sister... where are you taking me?" Young Masha held her sister Tina's hand and asked innocently. "Aren't we waiting for Mommy?"

"We're not... waiting..." Tina said gently. "Mommy needs to take care of Daddy... so she can't come with us..."

"But... where are we going now?" Masha asked.

"I... don't know either..." Tina clenched her hand. "Maybe going outside the city... would... work..."

A golden bolt of lightning streaked across the pitch-black night sky. Seconds later, the sound of the Holy Wall shattering spread throughout Canfor.

Some versions of Safari on iPhone may freeze. This site has already been optimized, but if the problem persists, please try another browser, such as Google Chrome, or switch back to the default font. Yes, the font is the cause. Please contact us as well, and we will try to improve it!